The Vancouver Symphony, making a stop on a tour of the western United States at the Soka Performing Arts Center on Monday, had the honor of being the first professional orchestra to perform a piece of new music in Orange County this season. It was "Totem," a three-movement, 12-minute work by the 41-year-old Dutch composer Edward Top, who is the orchestra's composer-in-residence. It was given its premiere less than two weeks ago.

No one was hurt. Bramwell Tovey, in his 13th season as music director of the group, is well known for his gracious way of talking about music, and he offered a few friendly pointers to the audience on "Totem" before playing it, even demonstrating two or three morsels. Not that it helped the ears maneuver their way through the thicketed piece that much (the program note wasn't all that useful, either), but it did lend a supporting hand.

"Totem" is lugubrious and clangorous. There's a siren and thunder machine in the percussion. The brass exclaim dissonantly. The strings scribble. It sounds a lot like the '60s European avant-garde with a few new touches. Not bad, really, though I don't yearn to hear it again.

Founded in 1919, the Vancouver Symphony is Canada's third-largest orchestra. Thirty percent of its annual budget comes from government sources. Tovey, a British conductor and composer, musically educated in the Salvation Army and a frequent guest of the L.A. Philharmonic, leads the orchestra with a generous, almost florid beat, and the musicians respond freely, spiritedly.

The rest of the program was standard. Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker was on hand to perform Grieg's Piano Concerto. His conception of the piece involved slowing down rather drastically for lyrical passages, only he didn't seem to have anything of much importance to say when he did so. He also held the instrument back in a way, was punctilious with the tonal production, so that there were times, even in climaxes, when you wanted him to let go.

Tovey and the orchestra managed supple and outgoing support and handled the pianist's seesaw tempo scheme handily.

In encore, Parker played Scott Joplin's “Solace” with lovely ebb and flow.

After intermission, the orchestra finally got to show its mettle with Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5. It's a solid group all around, the woodwinds standing out with their elegant smoothness and the French horns a potent presence. The orchestra produced a big, beefy sound in the indomitable work, but Tovey kept things flowing easily and naturally, the surges occurring without anyone pushing, the tops of phrases reached in gradual steps.

The Soka acoustics captured plenty of detail (except at the most extreme moments) and offered luxurious bass response. The last ounce of orchestral virtuosity was missing, and perhaps a little juice from the conductor, to allow the final two movements to reach the full potential of their exorbitant heights. But overall this was a satisfying, forthright and even distinguished reading.

The encore: Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5, which Tovey toyed with in the amused manner of a cat with its prey.

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